20.08.2024
At the start of the 2024/2025 daycare year, Senator for Children and Education Sascha Karolin Aulepp presented the current number of children without a childcare contract and spoke about the future challenges that come with increasing numbers of children. "In order to be able to use all available daycare spaces for children and to ensure greater reliability, we must give our providers and facilities more flexibility to employ other staff in addition to the, of course, still necessary qualified personnel," said Senator Sascha Karolin Aulepp.
Higher increase than in the national comparison
The number of young people in the city of Bremen has increased significantly since 2013. According to the State Statistical Office, by the end of 2023, the number of children under 14 years of age had risen by 22 percent, reaching over 14,000. This increase is more than four times the growth rate of the city's total population (+5 percent) during the same period. (Source: Federal Statistical Office, Population Update).
The increase is 39 percent
The number of children in childcare in the city of Bremen has nevertheless increased by 39.1 percent since 2013. Between 2013 and 2024, the number of children in childcare programs in the city of Bremen rose from 17,517 to 24,363. Since 2020 alone, the number of children with childcare places has increased by 2,390, or almost 10 percent. This development puts Bremen significantly above the national trend: During the same period, the number of children with childcare places nationwide increased by less than 5 percent (Source: Federal Statistical Office, Children in Daycare Facilities).
More and more registrations after the main registration phase
In Bremen, it is possible to apply for a childcare place at any time, even outside the official registration period. An increasing number of applications are received well after the main registration period ends in late January. These applications are considered throughout the year; children move up to childcare places when new facilities or groups open, or when occupied places become available (for example, due to parents moving away).
772 children still without a place
Contracts have now been signed for the vast majority of registered children. However, some children remain without a contract at the start of the kindergarten year because their preferred facility had no available space or because they registered at extremely short notice. These children are on facility-specific waiting lists or are being processed by a central placement agency. As of August 1st, just before the start of the kindergarten year, 202 children were on facility-specific waiting lists and 570 children were being processed by the central placement agency, having initially received a rejection. The providers and the Senate Department are working diligently to place these children in childcare as quickly as possible.
More than 7500 childcare places expanded
All children in Bremen are required to participate in the Primo preschool assessment program. In the last round, between December 2023 and the summer holidays of 2024, 6,477 children were tested, and almost half were identified as needing language support. This assessment also reached the 349 children with support needs who, at the time of the assessment, were not yet attending a daycare center, and in many cases, were not even registered. Of these children, 266, or just over three-quarters, have been placed in daycare so far. For the remaining 83 children, low-threshold language support measures are available until they can be placed in daycare, and their participation is mandatory.
Skilled workers are lacking – nationwide
Over the past ten years, additional childcare facilities have been built, providing more than 7,500 places. In the next three years, another 3,000 places will be completed to improve the still-strained childcare situation in some regions. In some districts with previously limited availability, such as Hemelingen and Vegesack, the trend toward a turnaround in childcare provision is already evident. However, around 900 of these completed facilities cannot currently be used because providers lack qualified staff. These providers are working diligently to fill the vacancies as quickly as possible but are competing for staff nationwide.
High numbers of trainees in teaching professions
The 2024 National Education Report has confirmed that, contrary to the national trend, Bremen has succeeded in increasing the number of trainees in educational professions. In 2022, 38 percent of new trainees in Bremen were employed in childcare and early childhood education professions, which is significantly higher than the national average (34 percent). Bremen is one of the few German states that has successfully managed to increase the number of trainees in these fields.
- Currently, 530 vocational school students are training to become social education assistants. The number of new trainees has been steadily increasing for years (with the exception of the 2022/23 school year).
- Since 2019, it has been possible to increase the number of people training in the field of childcare sixfold: This year the number of registrations is 137, a significant increase compared to the previous year with 84 registrations.
- 1,040 people are enrolled in various training programs to become educators, and 124 people are undertaking training to become special education teachers.
The Senator for Children and Education is expanding the capacities at public vocational schools as needed – no one who wants to pursue social pedagogy training and meets the formal requirements will be turned away.
Child day care initiative underway
The potential of childminding is of great importance. The childminding initiative has proven to be an effective means of facilitating low-threshold entry into the field of early childhood education. In 2023, 133 people began the qualification program, representing a fourfold increase compared to the previous year. Those qualified in this way care for up to five children independently in their own homes or can work as assistant staff in daycare centers.
To ensure the return and retention of childcare workers, priority childcare places will be made available for social education professionals. The effect: one place for the child of a childcare worker creates 19 additional places. This priority regulation for the children of childcare workers will come into effect this childcare year through a local amendment.
Source: Press Office of the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Senator for Children and Education, Press Release , August 16, 2024